


Ripples Become Waves

by Meowmeowmerida



Category: Naruto
Genre: All of these children have issues, At least for his age, Bombs, Child Soldiers, Fix-It of Sorts, Forgiving Naruto, Fuinjutsu, Haruno Sakura Deserves Better, He also learned how to sew, He doesn't care about gender rules, Naruto Centric, Naruto discovers seals, Naruto has long hair, Naruto is a shape shifter, Naruto knows about the Uzumaki, Ninja, Other, Protective Hatake Kakashi, Protective Uchiha Sasuke, Sakura gets a wakeup call, Sasuke gets a wakeup call, Slightly - Freeform, Slightly Manipulative Naruto, Smart Uzumaki Naruto, Strong Uzumaki Naruto, Teacher Hatake Kakashi, Trying to make some sense out of the Naruto Universe, Uchiha Sasuke Has Issues, Why?, Worldbuilding, because I said so, cursing, eventually, it's harder than you think
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-05-01 20:05:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19184671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meowmeowmerida/pseuds/Meowmeowmerida
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki encounters a book with the author named Uzumaki Mito while in the Academy. Naruto and the world are changed by such a small discovery





	1. Prologue: Catalyst

**Author's Note:**

> So I am in an intensive course but I have been puttering around on this story for a while. So enjoy.

_ “Painful as it may be, a significant emotional event can be the catalyst for choosing a direction that serves us - and those around us - more effectively. Look for the learning.” _

_ -Louisa May Alcott _

3rd Person PoV

 

Naruto didn’t know what he had done what was wrong. It seemed that his teacher would punish him for breathing. So he locked Naruto in the old storage room and told him to organize it. He found books that were half eaten by moths and pounds of dust. He wasn’t sure how to organize it. No one told him anything besides organize the books.

 

However he decided to organize them by the types of books. First Year textbooks were further divided up by the year they were created. The older ones in a pile, the newer ones in a newer pile. There were books on taijutsu that were put together, genjutsu, and ninjutsu all together. The books on chakra were put together, along with the history books. Then there were a couple books on something called fuinjutsu. He vaguely remembered something about the Fourth liking the subject. 

 

So he opened the book. The title page stopped him in his tracks. It was a book written by someone with the last name Uzumaki. An Uzumaki Mito to be specific. There was someone with his last name. The book looked really old, so it probably wasn’t his parents. However, it was someone with his name and they wrote a book on something.

 

He spent hours reading the book. The teachers had left him there overnight. It wasn’t a new thing. Naruto finished the book, it wasn’t exactly thin so he was surprised he got through it before it got dark. He decided that he was keeping this book and swiping a couple others. Mostly fuinjutsu and older textbooks that no one would really miss.

 

At seven Naruto was surprisingly adept at breaking into and out of places. He had plenty of practice. If he avoided school and his sensei’s the next day. Well, that was his choice. Not like anyone would miss him anyways.

 

Naruto might have been the class clown. He might have been declared stupid by all of his peers but Naruto was a pariah of one of the largest villages in the world. You didn’t survive this long by being stupid or unobservant. He might act like it, and try to convince himself to give people a chance but he knew in the dark part of his heart that no one would look at him. They hated something about him, he didn’t know what, but they only saw the thing they hated.  He had heard of the term demon whispered about him. To the people of Konoha he wasn’t human.

 

He brushed the dark thoughts off. He then focused on the books he had borrowed from the old storage room. He was going to be the best ninja in his grade.

 

Of course when Naruto began to show an improvement it was met with anger. People vandalized his house, kids stole his stuff more than normal, and Naruto was punished even more harshly in school. His clothes were ruined, his grades somehow dropped down ever further.

 

He learned then to hoard his books, hoard the few treasures he had. He kept his fuinjutsu a secret besides pranking, not that anyone could find something besides a trap. He kept every part of himself under lock and key. It was too dangerous. As he grew up he knew he needed to wait until he was a real ninja.

 

When he was eight the Uchiha Clan was slaughtered. He decided to grow out his hair like the Uzumaki of old, he had found a picture of a man (that would later find out to be his grandfather but that was a story for another time). He put bells in his hair and practiced not making a noise. Sasuke goes from shy to an asshole. Naruto also learns how to hunt and skin things and which plants are good for poisons and which are good for eating.

 

When he was nine he managed to avoid an ANBU, bells and all. He also becomes a master at henging by practicing on the angry civilian populace and getting discounts for being a cute sad orphan that wasn’t him. That was also the year he decided to sneak into a kunoichi class and learned how to sew. He quickly became a fan of making his own clothes, and clothes, toys, and blankets for an always overwhelmed and unprepared orphanage. Shikamaru finds him one time, sewing a little toy between classes.

 

“How’d you learn that?”

 

“Snuck into the girls classes, stole some of the old textbooks. The orphanage needs always needs donations and they don't ask questions if you leave it on the doorstep.”

 

“You’re smarter than everyone thinks you are.” Shikamaru states bluntly. "Troublesome."

 

“So are you, only difference is that your dumb on purpose and I’m dumb because I need to be.”

 

When he was ten, he knew he could graduate. He took the test and failed it much to the amusement of his classmates and one of his teachers. After school he trained relentlessly. He could make a bunch of clones, more than anyone else but he made sure to put too much chakra into them. He could only do it when he used a bunch of chakra before he tried the clones. He put a bunch of complicated barrier seals around his house. People stopped trying to break in.

 

When he was eleven he learned how to turn his hair into a weapon. He found that he could manipulate it like another limb or arms. He accidently uses it in a spar against Shikamaru but the teachers don’t catch it and it only adds to the appraising looks he gets from the pineapple head.

 

When he was twelve, Naruto learned how to make gravity seals. He trains with those and quickly gets ridiculously fast. He also tailed a former ANBU when he was busy with something and saw a bushin technique that was easier. That was when he learns how to make Shadow Clones. They quickly become his favorite.


	2. Chapter 1: The Traitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for our Sunshine Boy to graduate. It doesn't go as planned.

_ “A traitor is a betrayer - one who practices injury, while professing friendship. Benedict Arnold was a traitor, solely because, while professing friendship for the American cause, he attempted to injure it. An open enemy, however criminal in other respects, is no traitor.”  _

_ -Lysander Spooner _

3rd Person PoV

 

Uzumaki Naruto passed the graduation exam by the skin of his teeth. The Dead Last of his class and while that pissed him off he passed at least. He didn’t have to worry about what Mizuki had planned for him. His teacher’s eyes were angry, the feeling clogging up his throat, dense and stuck to him. If Naruto avoided the man, well he felt that it was better for everyone involved.

 

He ended that day being invited to the Ino-Shika-Cho celebratory barbeque. He hesitantly accepted Shikamaru’s invitation. When Ino found that he was coming she brushed him off. He didn’t say anything about that. Ino had always been uncaring towards others feelings, selfish in a way that was half ninja bred and half being a spoiled only child.

 

He didn’t know how to handle himself in the huge crowd of Akimichi, Yamanaka, and Nara that were there. They were all nice to him. The Akimichi fed him huge amounts of food telling him that as a growing boy he needed to eat a lot. The Nara’s seemed to watch him like Shikamaru does when he thinks that Naruto isn’t looking. He gets confused as a Yamanaka by an old lady. He sees her embroidering something but her hands are shaking and she’s squinting.

 

“Do you need help baa-chan? I can embroider pretty well. Or at least I think I can.”

 

“Oh, that would be much appreciated little one.” The woman says with a smile.

 

Naruto quickly takes the purple kimono that is being embroidered with lilies. He gets a couple more done before Ino finds him.

 

“Naruto? What are you doing?” She demands haughtily.

 

“I’m helping an old lady embroider this.” 

 

“Can you even sew?” She asks him condescendingly.

 

“Considering I make my clothes what do you think?” He snaps just the tiniest bit. “It’s a useful skill and I like it.”

 

“How did you even learn how to sew?”

 

“I snuck into the girl classes once. It was the day you guys were learning sewing. Then some of the ladies near where I lived taught me how to do this.”

 

“What? How long have you been making your clothes?”

 

“Since I was like nine. So three years at this point.”

 

“Why wouldn’t you just buy them?”

 

“Because in case you haven’t noticed people don’t like me.” He sneers, a little condescending which obviously takes the other blonde aback a little. “Now if you excuse me Mei-baa-chan and I are going to finish this kimono.”

 

The older woman pats him indulgently on the head. She keeps calling him Minato but that’s okay. She’s an old lady from a big clan. She’s probably a little confused and he’s not about to correct her when he’s having a nice time. Another old lady joins them and compliments him on his work and on the fact that he’s a boy who learned how to do something considered womanly.

 

“Maa, it’s useful. Something like this shouldn’t have a gender assigned and a long time ago boys my age would have to pose as girl’s anyways. We’re ninja we don’t have time to worry over civilian gender roles.”

 

“I like this one. Call me Nikko-ba.”

 

“Uzumaki Naruto,” he says quietly. “Honestly I’ve met a lot of women that deserve twenty times the respect they get.”

 

“Of course an Uzumaki boy.” She tells him. “Your clan was always good about respecting their women, but then again it was a matriarchal clan. I almost married an Uzumaki man. He was willing to come to Konoha to marry me and give up his name to become a Yamanaka.”

 

“Really? What happened?”

 

“The Second Shinobi War happened. He died with the destruction of Uzushio guarding the civilians backs.” She seems wistful thinking about him, about a life that never happened.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

“You’re the one that lost a clan.” She says to him looking him over.

 

“But I never knew them really. You did.” The older woman smiles at him and pats his head. 

 

“I’ll have to point my granddaughters and great nieces your way.” He blushes and buries himself in his work.

 

He doesn’t leave the barbeque until late at night, full and happy. His forehead protector proudly displayed on his forehead. He hurried home, while civilian debauchery was a little less active a night, the darkness was never a good place to be when you were prey and not the predator. Naruto was definitely prey.

 

He was a block away from his house when he felt Mizuki approaching. He immediately had out a kunai and a couple of senbon. His eyes darted around and his nose and ears where on high alert. The chunin jumped down from above. He had a scroll on his back and he looked crazed.

 

Now Naruto’s first instinct is to fight but he knows that paper ninja or no Mizuki is a chunnin. Naruto is a new gennin who’s taijutsu is mostly improvised and relies on his speed and flexibility. So he does what he does best he evades. Mizuki was obviously not expecting him to run. He also wasn’t expecting Naruto to be flaring his chakra hard enough to light up attracting ANBU attention. He dodges the man’s kunai and throws a few senbon and kunai of his own and jumps from building to building until he’s in his house.

 

Then he activates the plethora of seals. Mizuki crashes into them and screams. His arm is burned badly and he’s cussing Naruto out from the street below. Luckily that’s when he’s mobbed by ANBU and jounin alike. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief and deactivated the seals to allow an ANBU member to come and grab him. On the way out he put the barrier up again.

 

He’s taken to the Hokage’s office.

 

“Naruto, what happened? Where’s the scroll?”

 

“What scroll Hokage-jiji?” Naruto is confused and wonders if his teacher tried to use his face to get him in trouble, considering the Hokage’s face he was going to say yes.

 

“Where have you been tonight?”

 

“Shikamaru invited me to the Ino-Shika-Cho barbeque. I was there until maybe fifteen minutes ago.”

 

“Can anyone account for your time?”

 

“Yeah, Yamanaka Mei, and Yamanaka Nikko. I think I also saw Shikamaru’s dad on the way out.” The Hokage makes a hand sign and the ANBU leave the room to check up on his alibi. “Did Mizuki-sensei henge into me to do something bad?”

 

“Yes, yes he did. Now about the seals around your house-”

 

“Yeah they’re kind of excessive I know but I thought that having some nasty ones would be a good idea and they came in handy-”

 

“You made that all by yourself?”

 

“Yeah! I love sealing. I found a book on it when I was seven, and I might be a Dead Last on paper but the one time I tried to improve I almost got stabbed so I decided that being stupid was safer-”

 

“Naruto, you aren’t the dead last are you?”

 

“I could have graduated two years ago easy.” He says and sees the old man flinch. “But honestly I’m not mad, being in my grade is fine-”

 

“I’ve failed you Naruto,” he goes to interrupt but a hand is put up by the old man. “I’m an old man Naruto, and I should have known. I’m afraid my blind faith in the people of this village has made me blind to your suffering and for that I’m more sorry than you can ever know.”

 

“Jiji, you can do a lot of things but I don’t think you can control people’s minds. Other people did what they did. You protected me from a lot. I have a roof over my head. It’s not all bad. Someone has it worse.” The old man gives him a sad smile and ruffles his hair. “Can I ask you one thing though?”

 

“Of course, I’ll try and answer it but some things I can’t necessarily tell you.”

 

“Why do people think I’m a demon? Is it something to do with jinchuriki?” The man looks down and sighs.

 

“You are a jinchuriki, which means that you contain the Kyuubi no Kitsune. You can’t kill a bijuu but I wanted your generation to at least give you a chance. It didn’t exactly work out as you probably know.”

 

“So the Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi into me? Why?”

 

“Only someone with Uzumaki blood can handle the strain to their chakra coils. It would kill most people.”

 

“So I am a real Uzumaki?”

 

“Yes, you are a real Uzumaki, I can’t tell you about your mother quite yet. She made a large amount of enemies during the Third Shinobi War, and I don’t want someone to kill you. Or try and steal you for your bloodline.”

 

“People do that still? I mean I know that happened in the Warring Clans era but-”

 

“Yes Kumo tried to steal one of your classmates actually, Hyuuga Hinata, when she was three.”

 

“Really? That’s… wow.”

 

“Yes, I’ll tell you who you’re parents are when you become a chunnin.”

 

“Yes sir, goodnight jiji.”

 

“Goodnight Naruto.”


	3. Chapter 2: The Teacher

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team 7 meet Kakashi, Kakashi meet your new puppies.
> 
> Including Sasuke being an asshole twelve year old boy. Sakura being an annoying twelve year old girl. Naruto being a little. And Kakashi not understanding children.

_ “I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a good teacher.” _

_ -Temple Grandin _

3rd Person PoV

 

Naruto goes into the Academy on the day of the Team Assignments with a bit of hope in his heart. He couldn’t have been placed with horrible people right? He sat down near Shikamaru wanting to avoid the cluster fuck that was the side of the class containing Sasuke. He mostly avoided all of that and drew in a sketchbook. This one was for seals. He was working on a seal that could recognize and help people track down teammates. He ignored Ino and Sakura screeching at each other and bickering over getting the spot next to Sasuke.

 

He didn’t understand the girls clamoring for his attention. They were twelve, most of them probably hadn’t gotten their periods yet, or at least it’s delayed when you’re athletic. On the other hand, maybe some of them had because none of them seemed to do anything besides primp themselves. He didn’t want to know the answer to the question if they actually did have their periods. What he meant is that it would be a long while until marriage and children were on the table. He didn’t understand why they seemed to want to rush it. At least Hinata seemed to be free from that curse and Ino could ignore Sasuke in favor of working, if it came down to it.

 

When Iruka-sensei came into the room he quickly silenced the rampant screaming. Naruto’s ears thanked the man.

 

“Alright, all of you are now ninja of the Leaf. So for your teams, Team 1…” Naruto is half listening for his name. “Team 7 Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto,  your jounin sensei is Hatake Kakashi.” Naruto almost cried, he was stuck with the two people that were practically the definition of a superiority complex. “Team 8 Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, and Inuzuka Kiba, your jounin sensei in Yuhi Kurenai. Team 10, Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru, and Yamanaka Ino your jounin sensei is Sarutobi Asuma-”

 

“WHY DOES FOREHEAD GET TO BE ON SASUKE-KUN’S TEAM!?!!!!”

 

“I would trade you if I could Ino. Can we trade Iruka-sensei?”

 

“No Naruto, the teams are final.” He bangs his head on the desk and groans.

 

Great just motherfucking great.

 

When lunch began, Naruto immediately made a beeline for a place he could eat in peace. He needed to avoid all of his classmates and mourn for the time when he believed he could be a gennin of the Leaf. He was someone who followed jounin to try and see if they noticed him. He had stumbled on a couple of true gennin tests in the past and they were all about teamwork. Which meant that they were going to fail because Sakura would be too busy salivating over Sasuke and Sasuke would be too busy being a lone wolf.

 

He hoped that a sensei could see his talents and send him off somewhere but he wasn’t optimistic. At his core, Uzumaki Naruto was a survivor and he didn’t think he would survive this.

 

After lunch he went back to the classroom and saw as people got picked up. The newly christened Team 7 was the last left in the room. Naruto decided to work on a jacket he was making for himself.

 

“What are you doing?!” Sakura screeched at him.

 

“I’m making a jacket. Our teacher isn’t here, might as well pass the time.” He tells her, shrugging his shoulders.

 

“You make clothes?”

 

“Yeah, all of my clothes are made by and for me.” Sakura then brushes him off and stares at Sasuke staring out of the window.

 

Naruto shrugs and continues working on his jacket. It’s blue and made for colder areas. The material isn’t reflective which he mourns a little because there was a pretty fabric that was a similar color that was shiny. Unfortunately it wasn’t there the next time he went to go buy it. It would have made a wonderful haori. This one wouldn’t have any embroidery on it, only a lot of pockets. Ninja gear can’t be overly pretty, it’s hard to get blood and dirt off of thread.

 

It takes hours before a man comes inside. Naruto recognizes him as Inu. His one visible eye flicks lazily over them. 

 

“My first impression of you is that… you’re boring. Meet me on the roof in five minutes.” Naruto gathers up his stuff and seals it away before quickly making his way to the roof.

 

“Oi Dead Last how did you do that?” Sasuke asks and he turns.

 

“Ever heard of storage seals Rookie of the Year?” 

 

“Don’t make fun of Sasuke-kun!” Sakura screeches at him and tries to hit him in the head. 

 

He leaves the two screeching behind him after he used one of his favorite escape routes to the roof. A smile spreading across his face. He might not end up as a gennin but he was certainly going to rock superior Sasuke’s worldview. Maybe it would be enough to get him noticed. There had to be more than one way to be a genin. Ninja were tricky and not likely to not waste resources like that.

 

He arrives and is followed by an angry Sakura who tries to punch him in the head. Naruto dodges and their sensei intervenes.

 

“You will not try and harm your teammates outside of a spar. You are an adult by law act like it.” Sakura looks at her feet cowed by a teacher for the first time in her life. “Now sit down.”

 

Naruto puts Sasuke between himself and Sakura. The Uchiha gives him a dirty look but Naruto brushes it off.

 

“Introduce yourselves, name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams. Blondie you go first.”

 

“I’m Uzumaki Naruto, I like fuinjutsu, ramen, gardening, and sewing. I dislike bigots, people that think they’re better than everyone else, and assholes. My hobbies including making my own clothes, and figuring how to make awesome seals. My dream is to be a respected jounin ninja and seals master.”

 

“Duckbutt,” Naruto likes this teacher. 

 

“My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I don’t like many things and I dislike a lot of things. My hobbies include training, and my dream is to kill a certain man.”

 

“He likes tomatoes, hate fangirls, sweets, and social interaction, and he wants to kill the guy who murdered his family.” 

 

“How do you know that?!” Sakura demanded loudly blushing.

 

“I’m not too busy raping him repeatedly in my head to pay attention, unlike  _ some _ people.” Sakura looks horrified and embarrassed at what he said.

 

“Fangirl, you go.”

 

“I’m Haruno Sakura, I like…” she giggles looking over at Sasuke losing herself for a moment. “I dislike Naruto and Ino-Pig! My hobbies,” another round of horrifying giggles signifying that her only hobby was stalking their classmate. “My dream…” She seems to be lost in a fantasy blushing deeply.

 

“Alright,” Sakura comes back to the land of the living. “None of you are ninja yet. There is another test that I will be doing myself to determine if you are actually worth the rank you’ve been given temporarily. Now this test is very different only one out of three teams pass and considering what I’ve seen so far I’m not optimistic. Meet me there are six am tomorrow and I wouldn’t eat anything unless you want to throw it back up.”

 

The man shunshins away leaving the three of them alone. Sasuke immediately goes to leave and Sakura follows behind him. Naruto sits for a second before smiling. He might like the man but he was definitely going to put traps and explosive tags everywhere on that training ground. If he wasn’t going to be on a team he was going out with a bang.

 

&  & &  & & &  & & & &  & & & & &  & & & & &

 

The next day Naruto and his two teammates get to the training ground at the time their teacher said they should be. He had made himself a big breakfast. It was against their sensei’s suggestion but Naruto wasn’t skipping any meals unless he absolutely had to.

 

So he contentedly lazed about reading a sealing book he managed to get from Iruka-sensei after he graduated. The man was a wizard when it came to barrier seals. He should have started talking to him ages ago. His other two teammates seemed to be suffering from following their teacher’s suggestion as an order.

 

“Did you eat breakfast you idiot?!”

 

“Yes because it wasn’t an order and I’m not skipping meals unless I absolutely have too. Even if I throw it up at least I have the energy and bars to help me out if I need to.” The pink haired girl looks angry and the Uchiha tightens his fist. “Do you guys want one? I have like five and if we’re being tested by a jounin we’re going to need it.”

 

“I’ll take one.” Sasuke replies and Naruto quickly unseals and gently throws him an energy bar while their female teammate seems torn between listening to orders and doing the same as her crush. “Just eat one, I don’t want to deal with weaklings.”

 

“Fine, may I have one please?” Naruto throws one at her that she grabs with a little difficulty.

 

They all munch on their energy bars in silent camaraderie. After that Sakura’s curiosity wins out over her revulsion of  Naruto and she comes over and looks at what he’s reading.

 

“Oh, this is one of Iruka-sensei’s books. We both like seals, so he gave me this book on barrier seals with some of his notes after I graduated. Iruka-sensei is probably the best at barrier seals in the village.”

 

“Is that why you two are close?”

 

“Yeah, that and the fact that we’re both orphans and pranksters.”

 

“What? No way Iruka-sensei is a prankster.” Sakura says questioning her entire world view.

 

“Well you haven’t seen him after Izumo and Kotetsu decided to trash his apartment. They ended up begging Iruka-sensei for mercy. Iruka-sensei is a man to be feared. However, he doesn’t do that without someone pissing him off.”

 

“Hn,” Sasuke grunts.

 

“Oh I should probably warn you this place is full of explosive seals and traps.”

 

“Is that what this training ground is normally like?”

 

“No I went and set up traps after we met our teacher. Now it will be my advantage. The forests don’t have explosive seals so if you get there you should be safe.”

 

“Why didn’t they explode when we came here?”

 

“Because they need to be triggered by my chakra. Until then they are dormant.” Sasuke and Sakura are surprised but don’t ask questions.

 

They wait three hours for their teacher to arrive. Naruto is struggling to not allow the anticipation show on his face. However the man looked suspicious so he probably failed that.

 

“Alright, So you have one hour to get these two bells from me the only one without a bell will go back to the Academy. You begin now.”

 

Sasuke and Sakura go and hide. Naruto stands up and acts arrogant. Their teacher zeroes in on him. His one eye is squinting.

 

“Are you going to try and fight me?”

 

“Nope, I’m going to do this.” He touches his hand to the ground and pumps chakra into his sealing array. “Boom.”

 

The field lights up in explosions and Naruto disappears into the forest laughing. He sees his teacher managed to survive although he’s a little singed. Naruto goes into phase two. He creates five Shadow Clones. Two are to try and get Sasuke and Sakura working with him, while the rest are going to help him make this the hardest fight with a gennin that Kakashi-sensei will ever have.

 

The man went into the forest and dealt with shuriken and senbon launchers. Then there were pits and paint bombs and glitter bombs and webs of ninja wire. Along with logs and rocks going to try and hit him. Sakura said no and stomped off, calling him a maniac before running into a glitter bomb. Sasuke just brushed him off.

 

At the end of the hour no one had gotten the bells but Naruto saw that both of his teammates had gotten caught in at least one of his traps. Their sensei looked them over only slightly hit by some of Naruto’s many traps. Naruto sits in a perfect sieza.

 

“Well that went horribly for all of you. None of you got any bells and none of you except for blondie tried to work together. You also didn’t even try to figure out if there was something more to the test. You obeyed orders without trying to see underneath and find hidden meanings. None of you managed to seriously injure me. 

 

How you two are the top of your class with such horrible instincts is a mystery I cannot understand. Blondie acts like a fucking shinobi rather than an angry little brat and a spoiled stalker. He might get put into the gennin Corps the two of you should just go and be civilians.”

 

Naruto doesn’t react in happiness or in another way. He sees Sasuke get angry and Sakura just looks ashamed.

 

“Now do any of you have anything to say for yourselves?”

 

“You’re wrong! An Uchiha can’t fail-“

 

“Funny because the Uchiha on my gennin  _ team _ was also the Dead Last. So yes Uchiha can fail just as much as anyone else. Try again brat.” Sakura is shaking. “However it’s time for lunch and because you gave me lip,” The boy is tied to a post, “you don’t get anything brat. Ja Ne!”

 

He disappears leaving the three kids behind. Naruto immediately unseals a couple of granola bars and unwraps them. He then turns to Sasuke.

 

“Eat this.”

 

“He isn’t supposed to eat lunch!”

 

“And he won’t he’s just having a snack.” The girl blinks and seems to accept that.

 

Sasuke ungratefully and reluctantly ate the granola bars out of Naruto’s hand. Naruto saves those uncomfortable faces so that he can blackmail him later. This was a story that Shikamaru would be glad to hear. He feels their teacher appearing out of nowhere.

 

“YOU ALL… Pass.”

 

“WHAT?!”

 

“Don’t argue against it Sakura, please. Let us have this.” Naruto tells her covering his ears. 

 

“This test was to see if you could work as a team which you failed miserably the first attempt, except for blondie-”

 

“You knew?!”

 

“Well duh, I try and follow around jounin to see how long it will be before they notice me. I’ve seen like two of these before. Not my fault you guys decided that I was too stupid to help you out. Which is ridiculous on your part Sakura because you barely seem to know how to throw a punch and you would think a kunoichi would know how to manipulate someone. Also jeez Sasuke I would think you wouldn’t want to be like the guy who murdered your family. I mean I think a guy that murdered an entire clan doesn’t like to work with other people. So tomorrow Sensei?”

 

“Yes, at nine-”

 

“Will we always have to wait three hours or is this a tactic to piss us off?” The teacher doesn’t answer but by the way he acts he says. “So nine for us and eleven for you. Good to know! Bye sensei!”


	4. Chapter 3: C-Rank Disaster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto is done with this shit. A wild Zabuza appears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Fourth of July! Here is the next chapter being posted while I watch Independence Day.

_ “Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.”  _

_ -Sun Tzu _

3rd Person PoV

 

In the month since Team 7 had become a team, things hadn’t gone well. Their sensei, despite the first impression made on Naruto, was lazy and didn’t seem to put a lot of effort into trying and training them. Did they need teamwork exercises? Yes, they were terrible at working together. However, not giving Sasuke and Naruto work wasn’t giving them anything to bond over. Naruto practiced his seals when they weren’t training which was often. Honestly he was tempted to just send Shadow Clones to team training.

 

So of course they would get annoyed with D-rank when they weren’t doing even a quarter of what they had done in the Academy and forced to do chores for ungrateful civilians that only didn’t skimp them because their teacher loomed behind them. 

 

Their teacher agreeing to take them on a more intensive mission the two boys jumped for joy. The client wasn’t something to be enthused about but Naruto had dealt with worse people. Tazuna was an eccentric drunk with a civilian’s bravado. If he tried to kill any of them Sakura could kill him and she was barely trained. It seemed easy enough escort the man home and maybe kill a couple of bandits on the road there and guard a bridge. The fact that Wave Country was close to Whirlpool and Naruto could maybe replace himself with a clone and sneak there for a day was just a bonus in his mind.

 

Naruto might have packed way too much but he felt that being over prepared wasn’t a problem. He was excited for this. Sakura looked at him strangely.

 

“Where is your stuff?”

 

“It’s in my sealing scrolls.” He points to his belt which surprises his teammates.

 

The fact that they were still surprised at this point after he exploded an entire training ground so well that he got stopped and questioned by the ANBU was disheartening. He apparently paid more attention to his teammates then they paid attention to him. He shouldn’t be surprised at this point.

 

Once Kakashi-sensei and Tazuna arrived the group of five left Konoha’s walls. The walk towards Wave Country was mostly boring. Sakura asks some questions about why they hired Konoha ninja (because they didn’t have ninjas in Wave Country) and what was the country like (small and economically suffering) their teacher didn’t really contribute anything to the conversation. He seemed content to lazily scan the area and read his porn.

 

They run across a puddle and Naruto knows that there are two people with chakra reserves like the ancient chunnin woman who taught the kunoichi course. It means that they are low level, almost gennin level. The Rookie and Kunoichi of the Year notice nothing, despite it being a dry summer in Fire Country with a puddle so large they have to skirt around it. If they are the top of their class then Konoha’s standards have fallen. He snaps himself out of it and unseals a kunai.

 

Once they pass by two people burst out. Naruto is spinning and throwing a kunai immediately. He manages to hit the man in the middle of a forehead. It sinks in almost to the hilt, destroying all of the important brain tissue. Blood lazily oozes from the wound and the man seems to stand for a moment like his corpse can’t quite comprehend it’s now dead. His teacher cuts the chain of their frankly ridiculous weapon as Naruto watches the man he killed hit the ground with all of the force of dead weight. Once he can see that the other man is dead, he walks over to the bushes calmly and throws up everything in his stomach until he’s dry heaving. He doesn’t cry or make any face besides a grimace.

 

“Is he okay?” He hears their client ask.

 

“First kills are always the worst,” their teacher tells the old drunk. “Naruto? You okay?” 

 

“I’m okay.” He unseals some water and swishes some of it in his mouth to get out the horrid bitter stinging taste of bile and spits on the ground.

 

“Well I took this mission hoping my gennin could be blooded by killing some low level bandits. Not chunnin missing ninja from Kirigakure. We definitely have to talk and you are going to explain why I don’t abandon you to your fate-”

 

“We aren’t Iwa Kakashi-sensei, unless we want to risk our reputation with clients we aren’t going to do that.” The man seems torn between glaring at him but not wanting to because he just threw up after killing a man and the man obviously didn’t know how to deal with feelings.

 

“That’s such a selfish reason Naruto!”

 

“Can you not screech and possibly alert more enemies to our location? For once?” He growls at her and Kakashi-sensei looks like he is regretting ever passing this team, and possibly every choice that led him here.

 

Sakura shuts her mouth and seems to finally realize the depth of the shit pile their client got themselves into. Sasuke just looks angry that Naruto killed one of the men before he did.

 

“Naruto privacy seals please.” He creates a couple of Shadow Clones to do it for him, not wanting to do anything other than sit down. “Alright what’s really going on?”

 

“There’s a man named Gatou. He’s a shipping magnate who’s taken over Wave Country. He’s taken all of our business and is super greedy. Everyone is super poor-”

 

“And the bridge would destroy his hold over the country. Why didn’t you just tell the person at the mission desk? You are now risking half trained children-”

 

“We wouldn’t be half trained if you did something besides read porn and mope all day.”

 

“You are now risking the lives of my students, who will be given a  _ talking _ to.” Naruto doesn’t react to the side eye. “On top of that you lied about a mission that we could have set up a payment plan for once your country is in better economic straits. On top of that because no one has cared enough to monitor Wave Country, which they will be getting reprimanded for. We have no idea what we are getting into.”

 

“We can guess likely a large amount of low level cheap bandits that get off on causing pain and suffering and maybe some more low level ninja. I mean if he’s terrorizing an entire country into extreme poverty he’s probably not going to pay the big bucks for a strong ninja. And I know you’re former ANBU you should be able to handle it.”

 

“The fact that you were classified as the Dead Last of your class still mystifies me. Fine, I’ll send a messenger to Hokage-sama, we will get Tazuna to his home and wait to be replaced by some qualified backup.” He makes a hand sign and a pup appears in a poof of smoke.

 

“What is it Kakashi?” Then the pug seems to recognize that they’re there. “Oh, are you on a babysitting mission?”

 

“No unfortunately I passed a gennin team. There’s an emergency, the client lied about the mission. I need you to go back to Konoha with a message to Hokage-sama.”

 

“Alright, I’ll do it but you need to introduce the pack to the pups.”

 

“Fine another time.” He quickly writes a scroll down and hands it to the dog who runs off faster than some ninja. “Alright let’s keep moving, the faster we move the less likely we’ll be ambushed again.”

 

&  & &  & & &  & & & &  & & & & &  & 

 

It took a couple of days to get to the edge of Fire Country. Sakura looked ragged because of all of the distance they covered quickly. Naruto and Sasuke were finally getting a little bit of the exercise they should have when they started this mess. Their client just looked increasingly worried as time went on.

 

When they arrived there was fog covering almost everything. There was a boatman who arrived not long after who ushered them onto the boat with the warning to be cautious and quiet. Naruto despite being boisterous normally wasn’t finding this hard to do. He marvelled at the size of the bridge and kept his senses peeled for hostiles. He wanted to try and see Whirlpool country but he couldn’t because of the fog although he appreciated the cover it gave the four ninja and their client.

 

The group made their way. Sasuke seemed lost in some sort of inner monologue rather than paying attention and Sakura was the same. He poked the both of them and glared. Sasuke at least seemed to get the message and kept his senses peeled, Sakura just seemed insulted. As they got close to a river he felt a large chakra presence watching them. He sent a kunai and felt them kawarimi a bunny in the place.

 

“Naruto-baka! That’s a-!” There’s a sound and Sasuke tackles the client. 

 

“Get down!” Sakura is forced to the ground by Naruto after he saw Sasuke while Kakashi was forming the words.

 

A sword that was bigger than Naruto, was wedged into the tree. A man moved to stand on top of it. He was tall, muscled, with no shirt and Kiri camo pants. His hitaite had a slash through it like the other two. His face was mostly hidden away by wrapped bandages.

 

“Hatake Kakashi the Copy Nin. Who would have thought you would be here with a couple of brats?” The man says Naruto readies a couple of barrier seals. “Unfortunately, it seems that we have a conflict of interest. Hand the Bridge Builder over and I won’t skin your brats alive.” 

 

The pressure the man’s glare put on them made Sakura freeze and Sasuke shake his eyes going glassy. Naruto was also shaking but he managed to force the other two out of it.

 

“Maa, I don’t think I will.” He looked back at the three of them before the fog enveloped him.

 

“Sasuke take Tazuna’s back and this. When I say go throw them.” Sasuke looks like he might argue but he nods takes the two kunai inscribed with seals. He hands one to Sakura and they all throw their kunai into the ground. “Seal!”

 

The barrier goes up just in time to prevent the man from attacking them. He dissolves into water. Naruto grips his kuani hard, the edge of it digging into his palm. He was bleeding the tiniest bit. He decided to move his hand, looking down for a second and seeing the tiniest shimmer. He puts his bloody hand on the ground and pumps chakra. There are seals everywhere on the ground, Uzumaki seals.

 

“I was wondering why you weren’t screaming.” Naruto looks up and sees the fog had faded slightly. “Barrier seals? Taking after your father then Namikaze? I have to give you tree huggers credit for hiding him for this long.”

 

Naruto’s world stopped for a moment after he heard the name Namikaze. Namikaze was the last name of the Yondaime. Anyone with the name Namikaze would have been worshipped by the village, and in mortal peril. The man keeps going on a tirade.

 

“Actually you Kiri fuck! My name is Uzumaki!” He impulsively activates the sealing array under all of their feet. “Sensei move!”

 

There aren’t explosions so much as a shockwave that knocks the man through a couple trees and strips the leaves and branches off of the closest trees. It revealed a Kiri hunter nin that attacked Zabuza with senbon. The man looks dead and the Hunter nin then says.

 

“Thank you Hatake-san for slowing him down enough for me to be able to kill him. I will take him now.”

 

“Alright.” Their teacher seems woozy and tired.

 

Once the hunter nin was gone Kakashi walks to them. Naruto brings down the barrier noticing a bunch of seals on his arms and hands. He decided to worry about that later considering they didn’t seem to be doing anything harmful. Their sensei falls forward almost on his face. Naruto manages to stop the fall and makes sure the man doesn’t fall on his face.

 

“Just great.”

 

“What was that?!”

 

“Oh the seals? Not exactly sure I’ll have to look at these later but I’d rather get to a safe place before worrying over something that seems benign for now.”

 

“Can you even carry him?”

 

“I can outrun adult ninja Tazuna-san, yes I can carry Kakashi-sensei for a couple of miles. Sakura could probably carry him farther than you can.” The man looks like he doubts that but he chugs the last of his sake and doesn’t say anything else as he directs them to the house.


End file.
